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ADDRESSES 



James B. Edmonds, 



PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 
OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 




Class. 
Book 






EZ4 



ADDRESSES 



James B. Edmonds, 



AS 



PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 
OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



To my Mother and Sisters : 

Complying with your request, so far as I now can, I 
collect for you (including some other personal friends) 
the addresses made by my husband as President of the 
Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia. Two 
or three of them cannot now be recovered, and the " let- 
ters " are omitted, as they were usually the official ex- 
pression of the entire Board concerning local matters not 
interesting to non-residents of the District. As the occa- 
sions of the addresses were only such as call for brief 
mayoralty speech, my husband fears you will be disap- 
pointed, and reluctantly consents to this reprint. 

Lovingly, 

Lydia M. Edmonds. 

Washington, D. C, June 2£d, 1886. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME, at the National Theatre, to 
the Society of the Army of the Potomac, at its Reunion at 
Washington City, May 16, 1883. (Published in the Report 
of the Proceedings.) 



Gentlemen of the Society of the Army of the Potomac: 

In behalf of the citizens of Washington, including the 
resident members of your Society, I am requested to bid 
you a welcome to this city. 

You all know how poorly words express the welcome 
of generous hearts to old friends even in every-day life. 
How, then, can I tell the pleasure with which this city 
greets its former defenders through years of danger ? 

The fostering care and protection you bestowed upon 
this city in its day of weakness have made for it a warm 
place in your affections, which is fully reciprocated with 
a sentiment of regard and reverence for you such as a 
child entertains towards its faithful guardian or foster- 
parent, and you have a corresponding welcome. 

How much less adequate must be any expression of the 
hearty welcome you have from your old comrades in 
arms, who, after long separation, now greet you at their 
homes midway between Gettysburg and Richmond, and 
amidst the very fields whose names, like your own, are 
made immortal by your deeds of valor. 

We behold the fervor of your silent greetings, and are 
aware of the emotions that stifle utterance. We see that 
your thoughts have gone back into the past, and in mem- 
ory you live over the davs that really tried men's souls. 



6 

Again you fancy you hear the vain proclamations of folly 
and rashness that our beloved Union, its Constitution, 
and laws are at an end. 

Again you make your adieus at home and fall into 
ranks, firmly resolved to do and dare, to suffer and die, 
if need be, for your country, and in defence of the sacred 
heritage from your fathers. 

Again in memory you rendezvous at the National Cap- 
ital and begin your years of weary marching, and watch- 
ing, and terrible battles ; again recall the well remembered 
forms and faces of less fortunate comrades who fell by 
your side, and were not permitted to see, save with the 
eye of faith, the final triumph of the good cause borne to 
successful conclusion by your indomitabls courage. Again 
you revive the happy days of your great triumph, when 
in all this broad land no flag floated save the stars and 
stripes of a redeemed Union, when you again assembled 
at this capital for a final review and farewell, and re- 
ceived the thanks and plaudits of a grateful nation ; then 
retired to your homes with a quiet dignity worthy of 
your valor, and matched only by that of the great men 
who achieved our national independence. 

In the presence of such men, whose deeds glorify the 
pages of history, speech is too slow and is only a clog 
upon the swift thoughts and memories that flit before us. 

We, therefore, limit words to a simple prayer that you 
may long live to see a united and happy people enjo}^ the 
beneficent fruits of your toils, and to receive their blessings 
therefor, even from your recent adversaries. In this Na- 
tional Capital, as indissoluble linked with your name and 
fame as with the Potomac itself, and which now blooms 
before you as beautiful as the country and institutions it 
symbolizes, you and your guests will ever have a welcome 
as cordial as it is deserved and appropriate. 



RESPONSE to the Toast, " The City of Washington," pro- 
posed at a Banquet given to the Society of the Army of the 
Potomac, at the Abner Garden, Washington City, May 17, 
1883. (Published in the Report of Proceedings) 



Surely it is not expected that I will introduce this city 
to the Army of the Potomac ! I understand they are old 
friends, and, if a little domestic gossip be not too undig- 
nified for this occasion, I may add that for some years 
they have been regarded in the light of accepted lovers. 
Certainly this fair city has received from that Army many 
gallant attentions. You all remember some years ago 
when the States were rashly arming for a deadly strife, 
this border city, just out of her municipal teens, seemed 
with her dowry a tempting prize for the strongest suitor. 
Then the Army of the Potomac, more fleet than any 
suitor of Atalanta, with a dashing courage like that of 
the lover of Proserpine, came to the front, and, placing its 
standards upon the neighboring heights, sounded the bu- 
gle-blast of defiance to every foe, and especially to its 
rival of the James. And never was more earnest battle ; 
not from the walls of Troy did Helen witness such fierce 
war as was waged before this city. Finally, when this 
knight of the Potomac unhorsed his adversary at Appo- 
mattox and proudly returned to this city for his well- 
deserved honors, she placed the laurels upon his brow 
with such blushes and sweet smiles it was evident her ad- 
miration was won. And worthy, indeed, of all attention 
that chivalry can bestow, is this fair daughter of Wash- 
ington ; fur, as Virginia is liis mother, so is this city his 



daughter, and rightfully bears his great name. It was 
he who placed her abode, like his own, upon the banks of 
this beautiful river, and gave to her his last years of 
parental care. Under his eye her domains were surveyed 
and planned, her parks, avenues, and garden walks desig- 
nated, and all according to the dignity, simplicity, and 
greatness of his character. On this slope, where he ap- 
pointed, was raised the villa where Presidents lodge and 
Ambassadors are received. On that hill has arisen a 
domed temple fit for an assembly of the gods, where the 
representatives of the people and of the States meet to 
consult and frame laws for the common weal. 

This city has become the municipal pride of the Nation, 
the adopted daughter of the States, and beloved by the 
people. Art and architecture have bestowed upon her 
their richest treasures. Her workshops are Grecian tem- 
ples, statues adorn her streets, paintings her walls, and 
she is peerless among Republican beauties. Princes pay 
her court, Sages seek counsel of her experience, Ambassa- 
dors and Senators, Governors and Presidents, " partake of 
her feasts and deem their dignity increased." Above all, 
this city is broad in charity. She knows no sectional jeal- 
ousy — no North or South — save as geographical divisions 
or as beloved portions of a common country; and I may, 
with her full approbation, say to you veterans of the Poto- 
mac, that, proud as she is of your valor in war, she blushes 
with a still deeper pride to behold your greater magna- 
nimity in peace— to see when the war is ended that you 
are able to take the hand of your fallen but gallant ad- 
versary, and in a friendly spirit welcome him as an hon- 
ored guest to your feasts. This is the very crown of 
chivalry, the highest triumph of a Christian civilization. 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS at a public meeting closing 
the festivities attending the German Bi- Centennial Celebration 
in Washington City, October, 1883, commemorative of the 
two hundredth anniversary of the first settlement in America 
by that people. (" Star," of October 10, 1883.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen : 

Your presence here this evening confesses the interest 
you take in our German fellow-citizens. 

The Germans are a remarkable people, with a great 
history, and the interest we take in them is probably 
shared by all classes of our people, if not by all the world. 
Indeed, they have challenged the attention and interest 
of all Europe for two thousand years. Csesar and Tacitus 
tell the wonderful story of their heroic struggles with 
Imperial Rome — how, in defence of their liberties and 
fatherland, they unhesitatingly threw themselves almost 
bare-handed upon the well-armed, disciplined legions of 
that haughty power — and the great statue of Hermann 
now rises where, under his leadership, a whole army of 
those Roman invaders was destroyed. 

To-day, more than a thousand years after the Roman 
Empire has ceased to exist, the Germans, still in the full 
vigor of national life, leaders in every art of civilization, 
hold all their ancient provinces, and defiantly stride both 
the Rhine and the Danube ; and every power of Europe, 
however envious of their possessions, passes deferentially 
by. 

Equally remarkable are the results achieved by this 
people in another land. Their tribes of Angles, Saxons, 
and Normans — all Germans — took possession of England, 



10 

and, adopting the name of Englishmen, as you do that 
of Americans, they have brought Great Britain to the 
very front of enlightened nations, and made her power 
felt and respected in every quarter of the globe. They, 
in turn, took possession of this portion of the New World, 
and through their colonies laid the broad foundations of 
what is now the world's greatest and freest republic. 

Two hundred years ago the Germans in person began 
to follow their English cousins to the New World, and 
during the intervening period the ever-swelling tide of 
that people has increased to countless numbers, who, in 
their peculiarly earnest manner, have engaged in the af- 
fairs of government, in clearing wildernesses, and in fol- 
lowing every art, trade, and profession known to American 
industry. 

No historian can properly explain our history who does 
not give that people large credit for their share in this 
great work, or who fails to point out the extraordinary 
influence they have exerted upon our national character 
and institutions. Should he divide our people into three 
parts (as Csesar did Gaul) he will say one part was Ger- 
man, and that it was especially characterized by that 
thrift that follows honest industry, by an abiding love of 
freedom and independence, which they were prompt to 
demand for themselves and to accord to others, and by 
an earnest patriotism, which led them to perform every 
duty required of good citizens, whether in peace or war. 
These are the essential elements of character that make 
and perpetuate great nations. 

Therefore it is with great pleasure that we accept the 
invitation of our German neighbors to look with them 
this evening into the history of their two centuries of 
American life, well knowing the record is an honorable 
one, and that it will give abundant assurance that Amer- 
ica will long be proud of her German children. 



11 



ADDRESS upon the occasion of conferring Diplomas upon 
the Graduates of the ®pencerian Business College of Wash- 
ington City, at Lincoln. Hall, May, 1884. {Published with 
other addresses by the College.) 



Ladies and Gentlemen : 

We have all listened with attention and interest to the 
eloquent addresses of the graduates of a business college, 
and it has doubtless occurred to you, as it has to me, that 
for good thoughts and vigorous, felicitous English we are 
not compelled to look alone to the classical schools. These 
graduates have arrived at a very interesting period in 
their lives ; they have reached the end of one course 
and are now ready to consider the next step. For many 
months past they have been engaged in this College, 
under the eye of a master, and of a mistress too, receiv- 
ing practical lessons in business ; have been employed 
as merchants, bankers, brokers, and agents, and have 
given personal attention to all the details of those busi- 
nesses; keeping their accounts according to the most ap- 
proved methods; learning the rules of law applicable to 
their various transactions, and doing all that is usual 
among men engaged in such employments in real life, 
with this notable exception, that the mistakes and failures 
in school, if any, have not been at the expense of real 
customers, nor have they involved any one in financial 
ruin — explained, perhaps, by the remark of one of the 
graduates, that the money they used in school had not 
the finality of legal tender. 

Upon careful scrutiny and examination, it is now found 
thai these graduates have fairly earned the diploma of 



12 

this College, its certificate which implies, if it does not 
expressly declare, that they have severally qualified them- 
selves to enter upon business in real life for themselves or 
for others. 

I need not tell you how valuable a good business knowl- 
edge is, for you know that it begins by qualifying its pos- 
sessor to maintain himself and to be independent in the 
world ; that it lies at the foundation of all fortunes hon- 
orably acquired, and is the best guardian of those that 
come by inheritance or gift. 

He who has a good business training, though he have 
no gold, may, with health, win a fortune proportioned to 
his industry and perseverance ; and for him a gold mine 
could do no more. Therefore, as friends and well-wishers 
of these graduates, we have assembled here to congratu- 
late them upon their success, and to commend them for 
having begun their educational structure as good archi- 
tects do great houses, by first laying a solid foundation, 
and leaving the ornamental and beautiful to wait upon 
the useful. To those of us who are so unfortunate as to 
have had our school training a quarter of a century or 
more ago, a business college is a novelty. It has been 
invented and developed since our boyhood days, and both 
for age and usefulness it may be classed with the reaper 
and the sewing-machine. We behold it as we do the 
spectroscope, the telephone, and bicycle, astonished both 
at its simplicity and its achievements, wondering that it 
was not introduced much earlier, and how the world got 
on so long without it. Only thirty or forty years since a 
boy desirous of a business education beyond the teaching 
of a common school, had the alternative of going to sweep 
a business otfice to take in knowledge by absorption, or 
of going to an academy or college to take a course of 
studies consisting largely of rhetoric and the dead lan- 
guages. (1 am told that base-hall and boating have since 
been added.) I havegreal respect for the dead languages. 



13 

They contain very much that is interesting and elegant 
in literature. The world is still raising monuments to 
their virtues, and especially to the Greek and Latin. They 
are the favorites of the learned professions. The doctors 
of medicine, I believe, are all agreed to write their pre- 
scriptions in a dead language, and I will not question the 
propriety of it. But the fact is, and ever will be, that a 
large proportion of the youth of this and other countries 
are wanting either in health, time, money, or disposition, 
to become book-worms, and require more active employ- 
ment, and are entitled to be trained accordingly by the 
best masters in any department of honest industry. The 
intelligence and welfare of a people depend not so much 
upon the extreme culture of the few as upon a fair cul- 
ture of the masses. I, therefore, hail a business college 
as an indispensable institution in a republic. It is, as a 
source of light to the people, compared with the purely 
classical school, what the oil well is to the ocean whale, 
more bountiful in supply, though it is obtained by meth- 
ods less romantic ; and I rejoice that this city, becoming 
famous for its schools, does not lag behind in this respect, 
as is shown by the class appearing before us this evening. 
May the future of these graduates reflect honor upon 
their alma mater who now sends them forth with her 
diploma and her benediction ! 



14 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME to the American Railway 
Master Mechanics' Association, representing nearly all of the 
American railways, and assembled in convention at Willard 
Hall, Washington City, in 1885, to consider what further 
improvements are possible in railway engines and other 
mechanisms to secure greater safety, speed, and economy 
in railway traffic. {Published in the 18th Annual Report 
of the Society) 



Mk. President and Gentlemen: 

Of all the conventions that have honored the city of 
Washington by their presence, whether scientific, pro- 
fessional, or political, I know of none better entitled to 
the consideration and welcome of our citizens than that 
of the Railway Master Mechanics. 

It is not so much that you came here in your own car- 
riages drawn by your own horses that you are distin- 
guished, as by the fact that your genius and labor pro- 
duced the. conveyances that bring all conventions and 
congresses that assemble in Washington, and thousands 
of people besides, and make this large city, with its pros- 
perity and numberless comforts possible, and give it per- 
manency as a National Capital. 

Many times have I beheld an assembly that has com- 
manded my complete respect and even veneration for its 
learning and wisdom, its magnanimity of intellect or 
heart, but never until now have 1 had the honor to stand 
before a congress of master magicians whose wondrous 
works in reality have outrivaled the tales of Oriental ini- 



15 

agination, and even revolutionized the conditions of hu- 
man existence. Beginning with Savery and James Watt, 
followed by Fulton, Stephenson, and other master me- 
chanics, your fraternity has with matchless skill and bold- 
ness sought out and seized upon the secret forces of nature 
that for ages were hidden from the knowledge of man, 
and harnessing her powerful coursers to your cars you 
have gone forth like mighty giants to possess the earth. 

Your contests have been, not through fields of blood 
for dominion over your fellow-man, but the struggles of 
intellect in the fields of science to exalt man's dignity, to 
improve his material welfare, and to assert the God-like 
supremacy of mind over matter. 

You have fought battles with time and distance, have 
crossed continents, stopping neither for river nor moun- 
tain, and, like the Titans of old, have scorned all adver- 
saries less than the Infinite. 

With your progress the earth has seemed to shrink be- 
neath your feet so that States and cities that were distant 
are brought into neighborhood relations, yet in such 
magical manner that no intermediate possession has been 
lessened, but all have been multiplied in value and use- 
fulness. Indeed, you and your brother magicians — the 
master mechanics of navigation — have with your ma- 
chinery seized upon the huge globe itself and shrunk its 
two-years' circumference into an eighty-days' circuit ; at 
the same time you have marvellously enlarged the earth's 
capacity for human existence with improved conditions. 
Swifter, safer, cheaper travel and transportation have 
brought the peoples of the world together and into bet- 
ter acquaintance, have led them into a greater mutual 
dependence and brotherly -regard, have banished national 
famines from the world and promoted peace among men. 

But none better than yourselves are aware that there 
are still other victories to be won ; that there are other 
laws to be discovered ; other forces in nature and me- 



16 

chanics to be conquered ; and you, American Master Me- 
chanics, ever alert, stand in the front ranks of battle de- 
termined to be the first to unfurl the flag of triumph and 
success in the new provinces that lie beyond. When you 
meet for consultation, to consider the new problems that 
arise, you are assured of the sympathy and good wishes 
of all who realize that your achievements are among the 
highest triumphs of modern science and civilization ; and 
by none is this fact more keenly appreciated than by the 
intelligent people of this National Capital, who take a 
lively interest in all that appertains to human progress 
or to the honor and welfare of America, and in their 
behalf I have the honor to extend to you a cordial wel- 
come. 



17 



RESPONSE to the Toast— 

"Washington City, the Capital of the Nation: 

" Beaut a .such as thine the tuneful poet sings — 
" To thee the world its present homage brings /" 

proposed at a Banquet given at Willard's Hotel, by the Wash- 
ington Gas Company, to the Gas Engineers and Experts 
from the principal cities of the United State*, who had as- 
sembled in Convention at Washington City. 



Gentlemen: My response to the sentiment just pro- 
posed must be chiefly a protest of my inability to respond 
in a manner worthy of the subject. 

" Washington as the Capital of the Nation," regardless 
of the poetry and beauty, is a gigantic theme. It brings 
in review before the mind all of the political history of 
our country from the adoption of the Constitution. 

The name of any well-known Capital brings up at once 
by natural association its relations to the entire country, 
the character of the people, their national traits and strug- 
gles, and the spirit and genius of their laws and institu- 
tions. 

To an American citizen what magic in the name of our 
National Capital ! Upon its utterance not only the great 
man whose name it bears, but a long procession of Presi- 
dents seems to cross the stage before us, (the last one in 
line being by no means the least excellent.) With each 
President is called up the party contest, the great debate 
and election that brought him to the chief magistracy, 
and with him appear his official surroundings, his cabinet . 
his administrative aets and achievements, constituting an 



18 

historic drama full of interest to every student and enter- 
taining to all — sometimes for its comedy, and sometimes, 
alas ! for its deep tragedy. 

Then, the panorama continuing, forty and more Con- 
gresses that have assembled here pass in review and sug- 
gest a history and biography equalled in bulk only by 
the Congressional Library itself — a volume of eloquence 
and rhetoric not to be measured even by your hugest 
gasometers — and recall to the spectator the heroes of every 
party and faction, the advocates of every political theory, 
or Utopian dream, possible in a great Republic. 

Indeed, the name of this Capital awakens thoughts that 
rush in upon the mind of every American like the mul- 
titudinous waves of ocean, and crowd imagination and 
memory with men and events. I need not call up the 
illustrious and- familiar names of legislation, diplomacy, 
and cabinet counsel, nor of the Supreme Bench and Bar, 
nor of those who have here added to the wealth of science 
and literature 0*1- adorned the walks of private life, nor of 
the brave men who have gone hence to uphold the Na- 
tion's flag on land or sea, nor even produce the huge vol- 
umes of Benton and Blaine, to illustrate the vastness of 
this theme, before which one inclines to stand silent, as 
astronomers do contemplating boundless space studded 
with stars. 

Should we consider the National Capital with reference 
to beauty alone, the task of doing it justice would be hardly 
less difficult, and would require the aid of an inspired 
poet, such as the author of the sentiment just read. I 
will not even attempt a catalogue of the beautiful features 
and phases of this fair city so lovingly embraced by the 
Maryland and Virginia hills, nor attempt a description of 
what is so well known, and may be observed even by the 
light furnished by the Washington Gas Company. 

You all know what genial skies are above us, and have 
doubtless sailed the broad river at our feet; from Capitol 



19 

Hill have beheld the wondrous glory of our sunsets ; have 
strolled through our shaded parks ; passed along our broad 
streets and avenues, noting the city's varied architecture, 
and, through long vistas of beautiful trees, have caught 
glimpses of the bronze memorials to patriotism by Amer- 
ican art, 

I need not tell you how attractive to all Americans the 
White House is, for every school-boy knows it well, and 
fondly dreams of the hour when an appreciative people 
will invite him to dispense its hospitalities ; nor depict the 
beauty of the Treasury with its graceful columns, its glit- 
tering gold, its bright silver, (worth, I regret to say, only 
85 cents to the dollar), and its beautiful bonds, attractive 
even to free men. Nor need I dwell upon the elegance of 
the State Department, that eyrie of the American Eagle, 
whence with cautious eye he observes the conduct of both 
foreign bird and beast; nor point out the marvellous pro- 
portions of that dome whence the Goddess of Liberty 
watches over a land of Freedom ; nor tell you of the grace- 
fully tall column that is " the first to salute the glowing 
morn, and upon whose summit the rays of the setting sun 
love longest to linger and play." Nor will I pretend that 
I can do justice to what is so celebrated — the grace, beauty, 
and culture of the fair women who assemble here from 
all parts of our beloved country, and share with the Capi- 
tal the praises of the poets and homage of the world. 

But I will not fatigue you with further apologies, for 
you already realize that our " National Capital " is a theme 
rather for a Bancroft, a Motley, or a Macauley. 

May this fair young city long grow in beauty and in the 
affections of the American people, and for many ages re- 
main the worthy Capital of an indissoluble and happy 
Union, that will require no Gibbon to narrate its " decline 
and fall" by reason of excessive partizan feuds, political 
corruption, or unhallowed ambition. 



20 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME to those attending the 12th An- 
nual Conference of Charities and Correction for the United 
States, held at Washington City, in June, 1885. {Published 
in the Proceedings of that Conference?) 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Conference : 

You have assembled here from the different parts of 
the United States to consider subjects that, above all others, 
appeal for attention and sympathy to the nobility of hu- 
man nature, namely, the distress, poverty, and crimes that 
spring from the weakness, disease, and misfortunes of 
mankind. You have heard the cries of the wrecked and 
drowning in the voyage of life, and your benevolent sym- 
pathies are aroused. 

Although the evils you are about to consider are as old 
as history, and have not been limited as to time, place, or 
nationality, and would seem to be as enduring and wide- 
spread as humanity itself, yet believing that there may 
be alleviation if not cure, and recognizing the duty de- 
volved upon all by the common brotherhood of man, you 
have in a spirit of heroic benevolence devoted yourselves 
to the thorough investigation of these evils as the} 7 exist 
to-day, determined to learn as far as possible the laws of 
their origin and growth, and the best means for their pre- 
vention or reformation, and how you may, like skilled 
husbandmen, destroy the noxious weeds and cause a poor 
or neglected soil to produce good fruit. 

Adopting the modern scientific method of investigation, 
you have organized as a corps of volunteer workers and 
observers (o make, each in vour special domain, a close 



21 

study of these subjects in all their phases, to meet in An- 
nual Conferences to report and record the results of your 
several observations, experiments, and reflections, and re- 
turn again to your respective fields of labor with the ac- 
cumulated knowledge and experience of the entire corps. 

This method, persevered in by the intelligent and be- 
nevolent of a whole country, is a sure guaranty that the 
problems of charity and criminal correction are to receive 
a more enlightened consideration ; that legislators, aided 
by your studies and experience, will frame wiser laws both 
for State and national purposes, to be surely followed by 
the ultimate crowning result that human misery in all its 
varied forms will be lessened or mitigated in every State, 
city, and village of the land — a result that will reflect 
upon those who achieve it an honor more brilliant and 
enduring than is gained by any monarch or statesman, 
whatever his genius or success, who follows a merely sel- 
fish ambition. 

The people of this capital city, who experience their 
full proportion of the common evils, recognizee the unsel- 
fish and sacred character of your labors, and that you be- 
stow an honor upon the town where you assemble. They, 
therefore, who have hospitable greetings for all the good 
citizens of the United States, extend to you their most cor- 
dial welcome, as due both to your cause and to your self- 
sacrificing devotion; and in so declaring I believe I only 
echo the common sentiment of this community. 



22 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME to the Public Health Associa- 
tion, (composed of Physicians, Scientists, and others, from, 
various parts of the United States and Canada) at its An- 
nual Conference held at Williard Hall, Washington City, 
in December, 1885. (Published in the Association's Report. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Public Health Association : 

I come in behalf of the citizens of the District of Col- 
umbia, as well as the local government, to say that they 
extend to you a cordial welcome. 

They welcome you, not only as eminent citizens of your 
country and worthy representatives of the great republic 
of Science, but also for the noble cause that brings you 
together, and to which you have given many years of 
service. 

I know of no grander moral spectacle than such an 
association of men, from all parts of the continent, well 
qualified for the work, prompted solely by a spirit of 
kindness and love of science, freely devoting their time 
and money to the study and solution for the people of 
the great problems that often involve the health and life 
or disease and untimely death of thousands. 

I know of no labor so urgently demanded of science 
and benevolence, none that is so well entitled to the active 
co-operation of all society, none that would better promote 
civilization or more happily express the enlightenment of 
the age in which we live. 

In past ages the three greatest enemies to national wel- 
fare and happiness have been war, pestilence, and famine. 
Until the present century all these were considered as 
beyond the realm and reach of human science, and were 



23 

accepted as the mysterious scourges of Providence whereby 
nations were chastised for their sins. 

Within the present century, however, the genius and 
perseverance of man have created new possibilities. He 
has so wrought upon steam, electricity, and other forces of 
nature, that not only are the products of the earth vastly 
increased, but by means of rapid communication all the 
nations are brought into close, relations, one easily supply- 
ing what another lacks, and thus national famines have 
disappeared from the world together with the ignorance 
that tolerated them. 

Your association suggests that it is now time to enter 
upon another stage of civilization. You boldly avow 
that men should no longer cringe and cower before pesti- 
lence, nor flee from its approach as from an irresistible, 
devouring demon, but should turn upon it and wage a 
war of subjugation, a war in which you, gentlemen, have 
already enlisted as volunteers and raised the standard of 
man's emancipation. You claim that disease and pesti- 
lence are not the rightful masters of man ; that they 
tyrannize over him only because of his own ignorance 
or cowardice ; that they are only the humble subjects of 
Nature that come and go in obedience to her laws, as the 
waters rushing from the mountains devastate the plains 
below only until man's genius provides safe conduits to 
control their course. 

Your theory respecting pestilence is like that first pro- 
pounded by Franklin as to lightning, that by proper pre- 
caution it may be rendered harmless. Lightning had 
through the ages been a terror to mankind until it oc- 
curred to that philosopher that it might be received upon 
a metallic point and conducted into the earth. 

So Asiatic cholera, subtle as lightning and terrible as 
war, that has periodically visited Europe from its earliest 
history, and counted its victims by the million, may, as 
you believe, together with yellow fever and other destroy- 



24 

ing epidemics, be received — not, indeed, like lightning, 
upon metallic points, but at quarantines along the coast, 
where by proper precautions they will be destroyed or 
conducted safely away ; or, should they insidiously escape 
to the interior, that every city and hamlet may be so de- 
fended that the baffled monster must pass harmless by. 

I have implicit faith that victory will ultimately crown 
your efforts. The logic of science declares in your favor, 
and every consideration of humanity urges you onward, 
yet I need not tell gentlemen of your experience and wis- 
dom that there may be temporary failures and long de- 
lays, for, as everyone knows, the laws of Nature are not 
easily read, and she sometimes yields her mysteries only 
to the third or fourth generation of them that serve her. 
Nor do we forget that your contest is with a veteran foe. 

Disease, that hateful and miscreant offspring of violated 
law, is as old as the human race, and is as familiar as it 
is vicious and impudent. It sits unbidden at our tables, 
lies in our beds, robs us of many pleasures, and even de- 
stroys our best friends, yet so multiform and subtle is its 
nature that none can seize upon it or tell us precisely 
what it is, and those who have contended against it longest 
are compelled to admit that their success thus far is only 
partial, and that many a stronghold of the enemy is yet 
to be taken. 

But ground has been gained in this contest and there 
is much reason for encouragement. And never was battle 
waged for better cause or grander results. Your war is 
not to kill but to preserve life. It is for the benefit of all 
mankind, and you are entitled to a corresponding support; 
entitled to appropriate legislation, and, if need be, to levy 
contribution upon every science, art, and industry; en- 
titled always to the welcome, sympathy, and earnest co- 
operation of every municipality in the land, and nowhere, 
I believe, will these be more cheerfully accorded than here 
at the National ( lanital. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



III i mi mil in 
014 369 636 4 







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WJM* 



